‘Backwardness is useless,’ Pope Francis criticizes US Church for rejecting his ‘ideologies’

Some US Catholic leaders have come under fire from Pope Francis, who said they have turned away from Christian doctrines and embraced political ideologies instead.

The pope made these remarks during a private meeting with a Jesuit order in Lisbon earlier this month.

The transcripts of the meeting were released on Monday, showing the pope’s candid opinion about the growing tension between some US religious leaders and the Vatican over his efforts to modernize the Catholic Church.

The pope was reacting to a Jesuit who had spent a year in the US and had met many Catholics and bishops who were hostile to his papacy and the Vatican.

The pope said that the US church was “backward” and had “a very strong, organized, reactionary attitude” that could result in a closed and isolated mentality that contradicted Christian values.

“Doing this, you lose the true tradition and you turn to ideologies to have support. In other words, ideologies replace faith,” he said.

He also said that the vision of the church doctrine as a monolith was wrong, and that going backward meant losing connection with the roots of the church.

“The vision of the doctrine of the church as a monolith is wrong,” he said.

“When you go backward, you make something closed off, disconnected from the roots of the church.”

He advised those who opposed his initiatives to understand that “backwardness is useless” and that there was “a correct evolution in the understanding of questions of faith and morals” that allowed for progress.

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Pope Francis has been vocal about updating traditional church principles to reflect more contemporary values during his ten years as pope. He has faced resistance from some conservative leaders in the US who disagree with his views on issues such as same-sex unions, climate change, divorce, and celibacy for priests.

The pope has previously said that he considered it an “honor” to be criticized by religious leaders in the US.

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